In The Shadow Of A Dream
by Steven Quinlan
Summary: All good things.....


Title: In the shadow of a dream  
  
Author: Steven Quinlan  
  
email: Steven@interlanes.com  
  
Archive: Yes, but please let me know where.  
  
Dedication: For the Slipstreamers  
  
-----  
  
All Good things, must end  
  
-Unknown  
  
-----  
  
I'm not sure my mind is working properly. All I can think of, is nothing. I just stare out of the window of the escape pod, into the distance where I can still see her.  
  
It was supposed to have been so simple, take on a damaged ship and tend to her passenger, it's the kind of thing my crew and I have done dozens of times since we started, but it went all wrong this time.  
  
"Dylan?" A voice intrudes on my lack of thought, and I turn towards it's source. Seamus Harper, eyes moist with grief and loss looks back at me, and for a moment, it doesn't matter that i'm high gaurd and he isn't, that i'm the captain and he's the engineer. For a brief moment, we are two souls, caught in the inescapable loss of a friend.  
  
"Yes, mister Harper, what is it?" I try to put some normalcy into my voice, some element of command, the reassurance that as captain I have everything in hand. I can see by the look on his face that i've failed, but he pulls himself up a bit anyway.  
  
"I've got Beka on the comm." I nod mechanically to him and tear my gaze away from my ship, my home, that is even now, burning in space.  
  
When I look a the comm, Beka, eyes glazed over and tears running down her face, looks back.  
  
"I got her Dylan," is the first things she says, and inside my chest, my heart beats easier. Harper and I were on the bridge, and Trance and Tyr were away in the Maru. If Beka hadn't been able to rescue Rommie, she would have gone down with the ship.  
  
As a captain, it was my job to make sure that all my crew made it off in one piece, but Beka did it for me, and I can't help but be incredibly gratefull that the universe gifted me with her as a first officer.  
  
"Thank you. Are you allright?" she tries valiantly to smile, but fails, biting her lip before shaking her head.  
  
"No Dylan, i'm not." She heaves in a single sob, before i can see her will of iron come into play and she lifts her head. Her eyes are still misted, but their is a clear steel in them now.  
  
"I have been able to jury rig the transmitter to send a message to Tyr and Trance, God knows how they'll take this."  
  
"How long before your short range comn burns out?" I ask, realising that to send a long range transmission from a rescue pod like this means they are overloading the whole comn system.  
  
"Soon, I don't...." She breaks off as someone, i presume Rommie, says something to her, she nods. "Dylan, she's going down, i'l link in the comms."  
  
Her face vanishes, to be replaced with the Andromeda Ascendant, and i can hear Harper sucking in a deep breath as an explosion starst at the engine compartment.  
  
It starts small, just some fragments blowing off the back, but soon cracks appear in the hull as the reactor goes supercritical. Like a wounded beast, the Andromeda bucks as internal compartments and equipment explode, as fire races through her hull. Flame licks out of the cracks making them look like angry vains, before in a moment of soundless tragedy, the Andromeda blows up, leaving only glowing ashes spinning in space.  
  
I sit back in the chair, emotionally drained, as Harper gingerly puts a hand on my shoulder and Beka's face appears back on the screen. It seems as devoid of emotion as mine feels.  
  
"What now?" Harper asks behind me, and I start to speak, but Beka gets there first.  
  
"The Maru is a bit small for six, but everyone's welcome. You, Tyr, Rommie. Other than that, I don't know. The Maru wasn't built as a warship." My breath catches in my throat. Of course, they don't want to do this in the Maru, one of the biggest advantages of the Andromeda, was that she was a proper warship.  
  
I'm going to lose them over this, and what else can I expect. Three years and we still haven't got as much done as i'd hoped. They are probably getting dissilusioned, and with the loss of Andromeda.  
  
"I know," I say softly, "But I can't give up on my mission. If I do, then the death of the Andromeda will truly have been in vain. I'll understand if you don't want to risk the Maru. I'll try and get a ship off the Perseids-"  
  
"Dylan!" Beka snaps, breaking into my monologue, and i see a very small glint of amusement in her face. "I didn't say we were going to abandon you or your mission, just that we're not going to be able to go in guns blazing anymore."  
  
"You mean..." I start, and my heart fills with hope. As much trouble as the Maru's crew has been from time to time, they are the closest thing I have left of family. The thought that i'd have to either give up my mission or them, was almost too much to bear.  
  
"For better or worse Dylan, we're with you to the end."  
  
-- 


End file.
